1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed invention generally relates to systems and methods for providing licensing rights for media content that follows a subscriber so that the subscriber may experience the media content on various content distribution platforms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, individuals are provided with numerous resources/services for requesting media content. In many instances, an individual will request or pay for a license to experience particular media content for a time duration. For instance, a subscriber of a video service provider (such as a cable service provider) will often rent a movie offered by the video service provider through the provider's video-on-demand (VOD) service. In this particular instance, the video service provider may provide a license to the subscriber that enables the subscriber to view the movie through the service provider's distribution network for a particular time period (such as twenty-four hours). In another example, an individual may be staying in a hotel room and may rent a movie through the hotel's video service so that the individual may view the movie on the television set in his room while staying at the hotel. Further, in another example, an individual may subscribe to a wireless provider who also provides content media on the individual's wireless device for a subscription fee, such as movies, videos, and/or music.
Typically, owners and/or providers of media content employ licensing mechanisms to enforce restrictions on the use of copyrighted content. For instance, owners of media content may employ digital rights management (DRM). This particular type of licensing mechanism may involve downloading a DRM license to a device an individual uses to experience copyrighted content (e.g., a DRM license is downloaded to an individual's set-top box when the individual rents a movie through a video service provider). The premise behind this type of mechanism is to give an individual licensing rights to a piece of content based on certain conditions. For example, the DRM license may comprise rules for enforcing the license with respect to the particular piece of content and a decryption key for decrypting the content. For instance, the DRM license may allow the individual to view the content once, or for a set period of time, or on a particular device. Further, in many instances, the device used to view the content includes a DRM client that enforces the rules included in the DRM license and facilitates decrypting the content if allowed by the rules. Thus, the device, by “executing” the DRM license, is responsible for enforcing restrictions on the use of the copyrighted content.
In other instances, a content provider may employ restrictions at the point of distribution (e.g., a cable service provider may employ restrictions at the headend of its distribution network). For example, an individual may have purchased licensing rights to view a particular movie provided by a cable service provider for a particular number of times. Thus, in this example, the cable service provider may keep track at the headend of the number of times the particular movie has been streamed to the individual's set-top box. Therefore, the cable provider's headend is responsible for enforcing restrictions on the use of the copyrighted content.
In addition, owners and/or providers may use combinations of mechanisms to enforce restrictions on the use of copyrighted content. For example, a subscriber of a cable service provider may rent a movie (e.g., purchase a license) for viewing through the cable service provider's VOD service. The license purchased by the subscriber may allow the subscriber to view the movie three times during a thirty-six hour time period. In response, the cable service provider's system downloads a DRM license associated with the movie to the subscriber's set-top box. This DRM license includes the decryption key to decrypt the movie stream received by the set-top box and includes a rule based on the thirty-six hour time period. Further, the cable provider institutes the number-of-times restriction at the headend of its distribution network.
The subscriber initiates viewing the movie by turning to the appropriate television channel and by selecting “play” on the subscriber's remote control. In response, the cable service provider's system confirms the number of times the subscriber has had the movie streamed to the subscriber's set-top box. If the total is less than three, the cable service provider streams the movie (encrypted) over the provider's distribution network to the subscriber's set-top box. The set-top box invokes the DRM client and the client determines from the rules included with the DRM license associated with the movie whether the movie can be decrypted for viewing (e.g., the DRM client determines that the thirty-six hour time period is still in affect). If the movie can be decrypted, the DRM client facilitates the decryption of the movie using the decryption key included with the DRM license so that the subscriber can view the movie.
In particular situations, an individual may begin playing content and may wish to stop after only playing a portion of the content due to time constraints. For example, a subscriber may begin watching a movie the subscriber has rented through the subscriber's cable service provider and may decide to stop watching because the time becomes late and the subscriber needs to get up early in the morning to catch a flight for a two-day business trip. The subscriber may wish to watch the remainder of the movie at a later time. However the subscriber may only have twenty-four hours to watch the entire movie. In this particular instance, the subscriber may wish to transfer the licensing rights to another device (such as his wireless device) so that he may finish watching the movie while on his business trip. Therefore, a need exists that allows an individual to transfer licensing rights for media content (e.g., the movie) associated with a first device on a first distribution platform (e.g., the subscriber's set-top box on the subscriber's home video service provider system) to be associated with a second device on a second distribution platform (e.g., the subscriber's wireless device on the subscriber's wireless carrier network) so that the individual may view the remainder of the content on this second device.